By Angela Rooke
Responding to an audience member question about assault rifles falling into the hands of criminals, Governor Mitt Romney pivoted and connected crime to families: “gosh, to tell our kids that before they have babies, they ought to think about getting married to someone — that’s a great idea because if there’s a two-parent family, the prospect of living in poverty goes down dramatically.” Though they have not generated nearly as much excitement as his now infamous “binders full of women” remark, Romney’s comments which implied that single mothers were to blame for the culture of violence in America ought to outrage us just as much. Such comments are just as revealing of widespread sexism and misogyny in our culture. Many probably laughed at Romney’s tactless single-mothers comment, but evidently there’s something more appealing about attacking “binders full of women” than criticizing mother-blame. In this post, I suggest that mother-blame is so deeply ingrained in our culture, so deeply rooted in our history, that Romney’s criticism of single parenthood simply wasn’t as funny to condemn. By suggesting that the solution to gun violence is to fix the ‘problem’ of single-parent families, Romney effectively blames single mothers for social problems that are beyond their control. Continue reading
